Melville, Vernas Syrah, Santa Barbara County

Really nice with black raspberry, tapenade, licorice, smoked meats. A bit of an alcohol burn on the finish. At 15.3 I surprised so much fruit still shows through. Nice, fun to drink.

2007 vintage

Popped n poured tonight Tableside at restaurant. Still big on the fruit profile, more red fruits than blue. Still a bit rustic with some edginess to it but tannins mostly resolved. Held up well with restaurant fare. Good to go tonight, enjoyable.

2008 vintage

Drink up it’s close to dunzo. Was putrid on first open. Settled in a bit but not good.

2008 vintage

Spectacular. Black raspberry, licorice, pepper. Long mineral tinged finish. Will go years yet.

2008 vintage

From a double mag. High toned and savory, with good depth of flavor and plenty of life left.

2008 vintage

Stunning. Absolute Syrah at its best-

2008 vintage

Poured this blind for some friends. Guessing was varied but not far off Aging beautifully Great northern Rhone fruit with fennel

2007 vintage

Been 2yrs almost to the day since last note. That same fresh Gerry nose from the past. Much more robust palate than before though the sour cherry hints still there. Has certainly grown up a bit. Excellent and long finish. Now I wish I had more than 1 bottle remaining. This screams grilled meats.

2008 vintage

Fantastic wine. Oak has some great nfluence but the skins from a cool weather Syrah site are fantastic and a stamp of this areas potential. Black and blue fruit with pure raspberry and coffee powder and cocoa powder. Stimulating with fresh fruit and herbs

2008 vintage

What a marvelous surprise how good my last bottle of 2008 Merna was! Full of blueberry fruit, in balance, with a touch of vanilla. Good intensity, complexity, and body, but not over the top. This was one of the great bargains in wine history.

2008 vintage

Great juice

2008 vintage

Drinking beautifully

2008 vintage

Fat and sweet ponging between sweet and savory, high-toned and refreshingly bitter, ending with candied citrus.

2008 vintage

A bigger Syrah. Grapey. creamy mouthfeel with a touch of oak and spice. Medium finish.

2008 vintage

Delicious out of the chute, singing after an hour of air (in bottle, not decanted.) Typical cali syrah dark fruit nose, tannins relaxed from a touch too grippy to nicely balanced by end of hour 1, good structure, acid in harmony. Yummy syrah. This may be at it's peak (although I'm not sure I buy that), but it's definitely not regressing any time soon.

2008 vintage

Even though beyond it's prime drink by time. This last bottle was delicious. Nose was a little restrained, but all else is what you would expect from this wine. If you have any, might want to enjoy it soon. Doubt if it will improve form here.

2008 vintage

Very savory with smoke and teriyaki. Bacon cotton candy. Spicy, bitter, fruit and jerky sticks. Sour fruit. Bitter tail.

2008 vintage

It's coming along, seems to have gotten better/joined. Very nice from open to finish.

2008 vintage

Pretty good fresh cherry nose. Little charcoal, slight ammonia. Cherries continue on the palate, little sour. Some green veg. Pretty smooth. Tannins low but there.

2008 vintage

Little sour cherry, quite fruit forward, gamey and meaty. Medium bodied. Medium tannins. Pretty good wine. Not quite as good as last bottle.

2008 vintage

Dark and dense. Deep blackberry flavor, medium to light tannins. Tasty and smooth and drinking great.

2008 vintage

solid wine. probably could use some more time to open up or soften a bit, but fruit is there and don't know that more time will balance softening the tannins and still have enough fruit.

2008 vintage

A tenacious syrah with savory northern rhone characteristics compromised slightly by a monolithic oaky influence; ready to roll and plenty of life left.

2008 vintage

Very nice, some earth, olive, licorice with ripe but balanced dark fruits. Tannins minimal, drink over next few years. 91 points.

2008 vintage

Nice expression of syrah -

2008 vintage

The oak is starting to take hold, still a vibrant bottle.

2008 vintage

deep purple. upon opening I was struck by the charcoal aromma; however this faded over the next 30 minutes as the dark fruit, pepper amd dried plum aromas emerged. I even caught a hint of floral. After about an hour there was raw meat, licorice, toast, and dried fruit and plum. Its a little hot on the palate, 14.9 alcohol. medium finish. tanins are soft and round. medium acidity. Bold fruit flavors of blackberry and black cherry.

2008 vintage

Drinking very nicely. Day 2 as good as Day 1

2007 vintage

I love this wine! This, my last bottle of '07, came off noticeably more fruit-forward, which is one of the characteristics that I don't like about North Coast Syrahs. However, balanced with the savory side of its personality, pulled it off much more adeptly. It's time for my 1/2 case of '09's!

2007 vintage

Ready to go upon opening. Lively fruit, cracked pepper and spice. The palate is good, the nose is great.

2007 vintage

easy drinking, pop and pour. black fruits with some spice/blk pepper. 89pts.

2007 vintage

my last one but good. great Qpr

2007 vintage

Very enjoyable. I think I catch a faint bit of earth/tobacco but this is fruit driven and pleasant mouthfeel. Melville is as reliable producer of value priced wines as I can think of in CA. I've been able to buy this wine a few times at $12-13/btl in auction and what's not to like about that.

2007 vintage

Nice dark fruit on nose and palate. Not much acid but doesn't taste flabby. Others thought this was "easy drinking, quite nice". Nice QPR.

2007 vintage

I poppped & poured & theen decanted for a couple of hours ( big fan of long decanting !)...This is pretty good espescially for the $$ dark fruit & peppery as others have noted,it did round out with time & I think if you have the ability to lay it down for a while as I think you should with most wines it will improve with age .... lets face it it's not Saxum or Sine Qua Non nor is …

2007 vintage

Very dark color. Inky. Tobacco and blueberry nose. Brooding, dark Syrah. A bit much, though I don't really drink this style anymore. Its packed full of dark fruit. Low acid. I could drink this occasionally. Good value party wine I suppose.

2007 vintage

good qpr, enjoyed as always

2007 vintage

solid good value

2007 vintage

Tasted single blind. Red-purple color. A fresh fruit nose with complexity. Smooth on the palate with cherry notes and a bit of cream. The finish is pretty long.

2007 vintage

Unctuous!..that's exactly what this wine is! All I wrote before but this bottle had my attention focused on the ultra-plush texture - rich, round and full with a touch of minerality and the acidic backbone that works to really bring the total package together. And, now that GWC has faded into the sunset, to make an argument for this wine as a formidable candidate as a No. Rhone-like Cali benchmark. I'm convinced that this wine will round out even more …

2007 vintage

At the risk of sheepishly agreeing with Parker, I found this lacking compared to the much more defined '06 version. While it had copious, forward, fleshy fruit, it lacked the previous vintage's distinctive flavor profile of minerally graphite and stone. In general, the typicity was not nearly as convincing, as at times this seemed to mimic a slightly over-ripe Pinot.

2007 vintage

Dark red fruit nose. Powdery tannins in the mouth. Medium bodied. Simple.

2007 vintage

Still a fine showing wine, and my wine shop just got some more in stock. Perhaps another restocking of the cabinet is in order.

2007 vintage

This QPR wine has loads of black fruit and pepper that you will see in many good cool climate Syrahs. This wine is one that you can share without worry, as the friut and pepper notes along with the nice finish and acidity are sure to please.

2007 vintage

Spicier than their other Syrahs with dark fruit and thick drinkability.

2007 vintage

Mellvile Verna's Syrah is always a nice QPR, (as is their Viognier) and after enjoying the '06, I was looking forward to trying the '07. The aromas of dark berries and white pepper come out in this fine cool climate Syrah. Full fruit on the palate, along with spices and a nice acid balance out the wine. Another strong showing from this leader in the Central Coast.

2007 vintage

Opened up after 30 minutes. Average nose, medium mouth. Something in there, but not so much yet. I'll wait 2-3 years for the other 2 bottles.

2007 vintage

Weekend in the Santa Ynez Valley; 3/27/2009-3/30/2009 (Solvang, Los Olivos, Lompoc, and surround areas) : Tasted at the winery. Nose is full of pepper and blackberries. Rich and dense black fruit and pepper fruit flavors. Really excellent syrah. I think that their pinots are so syrah like because they REALLY know how to do syrah right. Yum!

2007 vintage

Similar impression to my last tasting however, definitely earned itself a couple extra points, due to the fact that a) it was the crowd favorite of the evening and b) those others opened, included my go-to '06 Kokomo. In fact this was so head & shoulders above the rest that it further solidified all that I love about the Central Coast Syrah's (& Pinots, for that matter) - earth dominant, smoky, rich with heightened acidity and full but sweet tannins. …

2007 vintage

Wonderful! Dark, rich, and sort of meaty. Dark fruits and some tar. Needs a little more time in the bottle.

2007 vintage

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Melville, Vernas Syrah, Santa Barbara County

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